Working With Boolean Operations on iPads and iPhones

The Exclude operation is demonstrated by drawing a rectangle with the Rectangle tool and adding a triangle above it using the Polygon tool with sides count set to three. When the two spares are selected, the Exclude operation removes the overlapping part and creates a new single shape. The cherry on top here is that you can still modify the resulting shape after applying any Boolean operation. Thus they are called non-destructive operations.

The Subtract operation is demonstrated by its most common use—semi-circles creation or, for that matter, any object consisting of only part of another object. You can start by drawing a circle using the Ellipse tool. Then add a rectangle above in the way that it covers half of the circle. Select the two shapes and apply the Subtract operation, which will cut out the overlapping part from the lower object. The same technique can be used for quarter circles and so on.

The Intersect operation leaves only overlapping parts from two objects and thus allows us to create a new object. We can create two equal overlapping circles, and apply the Intersect operation on them. We will end up with a drop-like shape that will eventually be used as an eye.

The Union is the most straightforward operation, which unites objects into a single one. In this tutorial it will be applied to create a propeller stick. It consists of several elongated rectangles with one of those being extended so that it looks like a stick. After creating all the rectangles, select all four of them and apply the Union operation.

Try to experiment with the Boolean operations to see all the marvelous results they can produce in no time.